Shouhen
by Marie9
Summary: A month and a half after Takagi Wataru's death in the line of duty, the new guy at Ekoda High School tries to settle into the rather unusual 2-B class and start his new life. But he should have known it wouldn't be that easy...
1. A Month and a Half

Aah plotbunnies, you strange little things. I very much suspect this may become a 'universe' so to speak that I write several fics for, though I guess it's really not an AU so much as a 'what-if?' scenario. Thanks again to my wonderful watchers, readers and reviewers :) Hope you enjoy!

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><p><em>Hey Chiba! Have you heard from Takagi at all yet tonight? <em>

_Megure frowned as he approached the keiji's desk, his tone matching the worry that the keibu wore on his face. "It's not like him to not have checked in with us yet, especially on something interdepartmental like this."_

_Not yet, keibu, but I understand that he and his assigned partner are out at the docks right now waiting to make thier arrests tonight._

_First Division Homicide had been called in to help with a string of what were believed to be drug smuggling-related killings in the Tokyo prefecture after one of the victims was found to have resided in First Division's Beika district. After several weeks, Takagi and his assigned partner were finally ready to move in and bust up the ring that they believed were behind a very large percentage of the violence._

_Well, if we don't hear from him soon let's head over that way and see if he needs any help. Of course, we'll have to be really careful to stay hidden. A marked unit could ruin the entire thing if they're in the middle of a sting..._

It felt strange, Megure reflected after he interrupted himself mid-memory, that it had only been a month and a half since that terrible, strange night - the night that had turned the First Homicide Division upside down on thier collective heads. It seemed like it had been a lifetime ago to him. He drummed his fingers across the desktop after he heard Satou Miwako's firm, but carefully polite voice issuing from the squad room through his open door, the rest of the light chatter in the next room coming to a dead halt after she spoke.

"Excuse me, but that's Takagi-kun's desk that you're trying to sit at, Takashi-san."

_Welp, obviously no one warned our new hire about trying to sit at that desk. _Deciding to intervene and show thier newest promotion to her desk, Megure quickly got up and exited the room, deliberately stepping in between the two women and offering Takashi Chiyoko a polite incline of his head. "Aah, Takashi-san! Welcome to First Division Homicide. I'm Megure Juzo-keibu; I'll show you where your desk is." He then waved her over to another desk in a different part of the room that had been stocked with notepads, pens, papers and a new coffee mug for her arrival. "Congratulations on your promotion; I will say you really stood out head and shoulders above the others. Go ahead and mingle a little until the morning assignment meetings and get to know everyone."

Chiyoko bowed her head, her shoulder-length dark brown hair slipping forward. She adjusted her small, square-lensed glasses after she lifted her head back up and offered Megure a smile. "Thank you, Megure-keibu. I'll be sure to do that."

He nodded and left her with a faint smile, noticing that Chiba was already waiting for him in his office when Megure walked back in. "What's going on, Chiba?"

"Keibu, we need to do something about...that situation soon," replied Chiba firmly after closed the door, pointing through the window towards Takagi Wataru's vacant, slightly dusty desk with his thumb. "She's always very polite and calm about it, but Satou-san is like a mother bear protecting her baby when it comes to that desk."

"Yeah, I've noticed." Megure rubbed his mustache with his finger in thought. "But you know what he told us, and I know we both agree with him. The fewer people that know about what really happened that night, the better, including Satou-keiji."

"Speaking of people knowing. He's still on our payroll for right now, right?" Chiba leaned forward a little in the chair he'd taken.

"Until our HR and payroll people start asking too many questions, yes, and even then I'll try to come up with something to keep them at bay for awhile. I'm keeping his checks in my desk until we can figure out how to cash them for him. But why do you ask?" Megure's eyebrow rose upward as he asked the question.

"Well, when I visited him last night to bring him some more food and his mail, he said he's been starting to get weird looks lately from the neighbors." Chiba rubbed his chin and looked at the ceiling. "I told him it might be a good idea to look at enrolling in high school." He paused, looking at Megure again and shrugging his shoulders lightly. "You know, considering how he looks now and everything. It might help him not stick out as much if he goes. And he'll need money for food and new clothes if he's going to do that, on top of paying for the apartment."

_What do you mean this is Takagi? This is a teenager!_

_I know. I don't believe it myself! But keibu, these were the clothes he was wearing, and this is his wallet. And here's his badge...as crazy as this sounds, I really think this is him!_

"Hrm." Megure looked up at the ceiling, mulling the idea over for a few moments. "Probably not a bad idea, especially if he's got nosy neighbors. No need to have a policeman from that side of town start poking thier nose into things." He looked back down at Chiba. "Is he going to do it?"

"I'm pretty sure I had him talked into it before I left last night. Hey, anything's gotta be better than being cooped up in that apartment all day and only sneaking out at night to do his laundry, right?" Chiba shrugged again and stood up, stretching a little. "I think the closest high school to him was Ekoda High, or something like that. I told 'em I'd disguise myself like I do when I go visit him and pose as his father to sign the enrollment papers, if he needed me to."

"Good plan, although I think he's told his parents," nodded Megure. "You, me, his parents. I think we're the only ones besides him that know about what happened." Megure then looked out the window and noticed several pointed glances at his door from the room full of people waiting for thier assignments. "Well, we'd better get out there for the morning meeting; I see people staring at my door." He gave an amused, though grim smile as the two of them headed out of his office.

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><p>"Well, your testing came back and I'll be very honest with you, Takenaka-san. You could probably go to any high school that you'd like to, but we would be honored to have you here at Ekoda High." The entrance counselor bowed politely to him as he finished his sentence. "We can place you into a class immediately if you'd like." He smiled, sitting down in the chair at his desk. "Your old school has really lost a gem, but it's our gain if you choose to attend here."<p>

The 17-year-old nodded thoughtfully after the counselor finished talking, looking like he was thinking it over even though he really wasn't. He engaged in a false nervous habit that he'd decided to develop for himself, ruffling the back of his neatly groomed brown hair slightly. "I'm just glad that I was able to find a school that could take me in on such short notice."

"We'll place you immediately. I'll be back with your class assignment shortly, okay?"

After nodding politely and offering a smile, Takenaka Hayato took advantage of the opportunity to look in a mirror. A trim teenaged boy's face stared back at him- a face that literally should have been impossible to look at. Even after a month and a half, he still found himself touching and poking and prodding his face on occasion, as well as pinching himself hard on the hand on occasion still to see if this was some bizarre, impossible dream that he needed to wake up from.

He frowned as he realized that the shoulders on his new suit were a little large; he'd have to have them taken in. _Just one more thing to have to take care of, _he thought with a sigh as he continued to study his face. Sometimes, it really felt like he was living someone else's life now- and he supposed that in a way, he was. Takagi Wataru had perished that night at the piers as surely as the other officer that had died from whatever the two of them had been force-fed.

"I apologize for the wait, Takenaka-san. Here's your class assignment. It will be straight that hall, then turn left. They're the second door on the right."

**CLASS 2-B**

As Takenaka Hayato studied the small scrap of notebook paper with his new class' information hastily scribbled on it, he still wasn't sure that this had been a good idea now that he'd slept on it. Then again, he supposed it was either this or keep enduring nosy, weird looks from the neighbors at his new apartment complex because a teenage boy was skulking around in the shadows at home all day instead of being at school -and the absolute last thing that Takenaka Hayato (or rather, Takagi Wataru) wanted to do was stick out.

_No, this was definitely the right idea, and Chiba-san was smart to think of it. I've got to try and blend in..try to look more normal so I don't arouse any more suspicion. What's more normal than a teenager going to high school, after all? _He finished walking down the halls and stepped up to the door of the classroom, hearing the teacher address the class on the other side of the door.

"...new student in our class starting today who's just finished his registration and testing, Takenaka Hayato. The attendance office said he should be here any minute. I'd like you all to greet him warmly when he arrives, alright?"

_Well, I guess that's my cue. Here goes nothing... _He reached up and politely knocked on the door, hoping it was loud enough to carry into the room.

"Aah, that must be him now. Come in," came the sensei's voice.

He opened the door and stepped inside, quickly scanning the class and breaking out into a cold sweat at the same time as he felt thier collective gaze on him. _What if this goes wrong? _He took a deep breath to calm himself as he walked up to the chalkboard, picking up a piece of chalk and writing out his pseudonym so that everyone could see the kanji involved his name. Takagi could tell the moment he'd touched chalk to board that he needed a little more practice writing his new name, but he relaxed a little once he realized he'd done it with no mistakes in his strokes.

**竹**

**中 **

**隼**

**人**

He then turned to the class and gave a polite half-bow. "Thank you for having me. I hope that I'll get to know all of you well." He then turned to the teacher to see what desk he was assigned and was pointed to a desk that was behind another empty desk. He went to sit down and put his book bag on the desk, still studying the classroom, and immediately felt something give under his bottom followed what sounded like a roaringly loud fart, one that sent the classroom into peals of laughter.

Except...he hadn't farted, and he'd felt something in his seat while he sat down on it, too. His cheeks flushed slightly with embarrassment while the sensei tried to get the class under control, Takagi sat up slightly and felt the chair where he'd been sitting and discovered a deflated whoopee cushion. Wanting to exonerate himself, he held it up for the class and the teacher to see. The sensei gave Takagi a sympathetic look, followed by turning her attention to a messy-haired boy sitting three desks over in the same row as Takagi.

"Kuroba-san, what was our agreement about new students?" The sensei waved a chiding finger at the boy, though there was an unmistakable look of amusement on her face as well.

"Hey, I put them on _everyone's _seats this morning, sensei. Not my fault the new guy wasn't paying attention when he sat down, is it?"


	2. Search for Answers

Glad people are enjoying this :) Onward!

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><p>After the morning assignment meeting Satou Miwako walked out to the police car she was usually assigned, giving it a quick once-over before getting in and settling into the driver's seat. She then buckled her seatbelt before opening her purse's secret back pouch, which contained some carefully preserved notes in the date order that she'd received them. She opened the very first one that she'd gotten, touching it to her chest for a moment before untucking the envelope, extracting the note inside and reading it all over again even though she'd long ago committed it to memory.<p>

_Satou-san,_

_I hope that this note gets to you as soon as you check your mail. I know what you're probably seeing and hearing on the TV and at work over the last few days. Don't let any of it fool you._

She had felt hollow, absolutely dead inside, when the announcement had been made at the police station that one of thier own had died in the line of duty. That was mostly because she had already noticed Takagi's very conspicuous absence during thier usual morning roll call. Satou had even wondered if it was the universe's way of saying that she simply wasn't meant to have a relationship, especially in light of what had also happened to her first object of romantic affection. For the entire week leading up to the funeral and even during the funeral she'd felt like a robot running on autopilot, feeling but not really feeling, thinking but not really thinking. Until she'd finally gathered herself together enough to check her mail...

_I'm still alive. _

Satou still remembered how her heart had leapt in her chest when she'd initially studied one of the strange white envelopes with no return address or stamp on it sitting amongst her mail. The first time she'd gotten one, Satou had just gotten home from attending Takagi's closed-casket funeral a week after his death, and she had decided to try going through the motions of life in an attempt to take her mind off things. The moment that she'd glanced at her name on the envelope, Satou had recognized Takagi's handwriting since she was so used to looking over his notes when the two of them compared information during a case. She had thought that her eyes and heart were playing tricks on her until she saw the rest of the note was in his handwriting as well- and Takagi had also enclosed a newspaper clipping dated two days after he was supposed to have perished.

_I'm very sorry that I haven't written sooner to let you know that I'm alright, but I've just finished recovering from a very bad illness. In fact, I just got out of the hospital today. I hope you'll forgive me._

She wondered quite a bit just what that 'illness' had been, and she was also curious if there was a connection between that illness and the other detective's death. The coroners had quite literally been unable to establish any sort of cause of death for the deceased Ikeda Akihiro, from what she'd managed to learn. Takagi Wataru's corpse was supposed to have been burned beyond recognition and unable to be autopsied beyond identifying him through his dental work, but of course Satou now knew that that was just a cover story. She was still trying to figure out just what had happened in her free time, and Satou had some definite ideas about who to talk to next.

_If you're wondering why I haven't actually called you like I wanted to, it's because I've decided that it's probably best for me to hide out for a while. I want to let the men that tried to kill me along with Ikeda-keiji keep thinking that they succeeded in killing us both so they won't come after me or anyone else that's close to me. I'm even letting the lease on my apartment in town lapse and moving someplace else just in case..._

_I've enclosed a newspaper clipping as well- once you study it, I'm sure you'll know why I enclosed it._

_The biggest favor I can ask of you is to keep pretending like I'm dead, at least if anyone asks about me or brings me up._

He hadn't given her an address or a phone number, of course, but he _had_ given her a PO box under an assumed name that she could use to write to him if she wanted. After Satou had immediately replied and they'd started thier correspondence she'd hunted high and low in the greater Tokyo prefecture for any apartments that were rented under the name 'Nakashima Kiyoshi,' but the three men she'd found so far didn't seem to be panning out. One was way too short and fat to be her Takagi, the second was a total drunkard who was much too old and worn-looking even if it was makeup, and the last one had been living in the same apartment for going on ten years. She really wished she could catch Takagi in the act of delivering his unaddressed replies into her mail slot, but they always seemed to come while she was at work. Part of her suspected that that was because some of her coworkers were feeding Takagi information on her shift schedule. Well, OK - two of her coworkers in particular.

She waited for Chiba, who'd been parked in front of her, to pull out, then carefully pulled out as she used her rearview mirror to watch his car drive off in the opposite direction. _Chiba-kun, if anyone knows what really happened or where he is right now, it's got to be either you or Megure-keibu. Maybe the both of you, actually...I know that you two were the first on the scene that night at the docks, after all. _Her suspicions on this were doubled in her mind by the fact that Megure-keibu apparently still hadn't put in the proper paperwork to take Takagi off the payroll books yet. Why the delay unless he had a good reason for it?

All she knew for certain was that Takagi had been assigned along with the other detective as part of an intradepartmental task force that was working to try and take down a huge smuggling ring. Well, that and the fact that something had obviously gone horribly awry during the bust that Takagi and Ikeda were supposed to have executed that evening.

_Yeah, Satou-san, we pulled up and the whole building was totally engulfed in flames! We could barely get Ikeda-keiji out and he was already dead, probably from the smoke. _

She'd picked up on Chiba's nervousness as he'd told his version of events.

_Look Satou-san, I know you really want to know what happened that night and I understand it, believe me. But everything, all of it, is in the report..._

Satou shook her head. _No, Megure-keibu, not all of it is in the report at all, or Takagi-kun wouldn't be writing to me...and I intend to get answers. _

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><p>"Hey Takenaka-san! You're heading to lunch, right? Wait up for me, please!"<p>

Takagi turned around to see a girl he recognized as one of his new classmates come bounding up to him with a cheery smile. "I'm Nakamori Aoko, one of your new classmates. I wanted to eat lunch with you and apologize for Bakaito's behavior earlier."

_Well, maybe it won't be a bad idea for me to try and spend time with my new classmates...try to blend in even more. _Takagi cocked an eyebrow and turned to walk alongside Aoko with a smile, offering a somewhat puzzled "Bakaito?" in reply.

"Oh, that's right, you don't know that mickname yet," Aoko laughed with a smile. "Kaito- Kuroba Kaito. That idiot Bakaito," she continued as she waved her hand at Takagi. "He's the one that left the whoopee cushion on your chair this morning. That kind of stuff is par for the course for him." She sighed and rolled her eyes as they located a table before sitting across from each other. "I just wanted to apologize because he's my friend, even if he is an idiot sometimes."

"He didn't look when he sat down. That's not my problem, like I said in class earlier." The very boy Aoko had been discussing plunked down next to Takagi, eyeing him up and down quickly out of the corner of his unusually intelligent dark blue eyes. "You're the new guy that just started in our class today, right?" He then turned to Aoko and stuck his tongue out at her. "Why are you pestering the new guy already, huh? He's probably got enough to worry about already."

"I was apologizing for your prank earlier, Bakaito," replied Aoko in an exasperated tone as she flung what looked like a ketchup packet right square at Kaito's chest. She then wagged a reproachful finger at her friend. "Because we both know that _you_ never will."

The other boy shrugged as he pulled out a small lunch box and plucked out a piece of sushi. "Hey, we both know I've done way worse than that. He _could_ have started with us the day that I brought that skunk to class during the middle of chemistry." A rougish grin crossed Kaito's face. "Took twenty minutes for sensei to realize it wasn't the sufuric acid we were using in the lab."

"It really took that long for anyone to notice the skunk?" Takagi was geniunely baffled. _That kind of animal is very hard to miss..._

"Well Kaito was hiding the skunk in his backpack, Takenaka-san," replied Aoko with a rueful grin and shake of her head. "It took a while for sensei to track the smell to his bag because the whole room smelled like rotten eggs."

"And _then_ it sprayed him when sensei opened the bag, which was the best part of all." Kaito slapped his knee, laughing loudly. "That one was _so_ worth the two weeks of chalkboard cleaning."

"So you must like pranks, then?" Takagi made a mental note to start keeping a much sharper eye out when he was around the other boy if that was the case.

"Correction, Takenaka-san. Kuroba doesn't just _like_ pranks, he _lives_ them. Much to the irritation of our class at times, I might add." A somewhat imperious, slightly accented voice came from over Takagi's shoulder. A tall blonde, golden-eyed boy then got up from his seat and walked over to their table, offering Takagi a polite half-bow. _I know I've seen him before_...Takagi could feel the wheels in his head churning, trying to place the boy. "I came back from England this morning and only cleared customs a bit ago, so I missed your introduction to the class. But it sounds like you have the seat directly behind mine." The boy stuck out his hand for a handshake. "The name is Hakuba- Hakuba Saguru." He then flicked his gaze to Kaito after they finished shaking hands for a moment before refocusing his attention on Takagi. "Since your desk is right by mine, you'll probably be in Kuroba's general line of fire more than most, just as a fair warning. Kuroba is possessed of no great fondness towards me."

"Because you don't know how to relax and have fun," replied Kaito evenly as he finished his lunch before quickly standing up. "Now if you'll excuse me, there's a little too much stuffed shirt close by for my comfort."

Saguru settled into the seat Kaito had just vacated. He looked up at Takagi, studying him cooly before he offered a half-smile. "A few words of advice, Takenaka-san. Bring an umbrella, extra pair of shoes and extra lunch every day, even if you don't think you'll need any of those things. With Kuroba in our classroom, at some point you may wind up needing all three."

"Kaito's not that bad, Saguru-kun," laughed Aoko before she looked up at the ceiling, apparently thinking on it. "Or maybe...Hmm, yeah I guess he is that bad at times, isn't he?"


	3. Visit to the Station

Trying for longer chapters...bear with me, I'm so used to plotting out and writing based on 2k-ish word chapters that the adjustment may take me a while (thus why this chapter took so long- sorry!) Working on my other stories as well. :) And Happy Holidays!

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><p>"Hi Conan-kun! Do you want to go to the police station and visit Satou-keiji after school today? We haven't seen her for a few days, right?"<p>

Shinichi looked up from his math paper and into the smiling face of Ayumi, who'd just asked the question, the girl barely audible above the dull roar of a recessed classroom packed full of small children all playing various kinds of indoor games thanks to the rainy day outside. He nodded in reply, giving one of his well-practiced child's smiles in return as he put down the math. "Yeah, sure! You're right, we haven't visited her yet this week. We should." The Shonen Tanteidan had tried to make a point of visiting the detective regularly ever since the death of Takagi, trying to cheer Satou up and help keep her mind off of her partner's death.

Shinichi did want to help Satou-keiji cheer up and cope as best he could, but he _also_ had a slowly growing, sneaking suspicion that there was a little more to the story surrounding Takagi Wataru's death in the line of duty than had ever been publicly released. He still couldn't quite put his finger on what was bugging him about the whole thing yet, and it was really irritating the shrunken meitantei. That same feeling was also driving Shinichi to want to poke around into the circumstances of that strange fire out on the pier a month and a half ago, and he had little doubt that Satou-keiji was far and away his best best to get information on things. As Shinichi finished up the very basic math on his sheet, he looked up to the well-used chalkboard with a thoughtful expression. _After all, Satou-keiji is a very skilled detective in her own right. I'm sure that she's probably doing her own investigating into it, if for no other reason than some final closure for herself...I just hope that I can manage to find out what she's discovered so far. _Then again, arranging childlike 'accidents' to get information was something that Shinichi felt he'd become at least halfway decent at._  
><em>

"Well aren't you looking rather serious this morning." This was said quietly and cooly by Shiho as she walked up the aisle by him before heading to her desk to prepare for the day, Shinichi instantly picking up on the warning hidden within the greeting and nodding to her gratefully. _She's right...I've gotta watch that. You'd think after almost nine months I'd be used to being careful with letting my mask drop off by now..._

"Ai-chan, there you are! Good morning!" Ayumi quickly walked over to Shiho's desk to meet her friend with a smile. "Wanna go say hi to Satou-keiji with us after school today? Conan said he'll come."

Shiho thought this over for a few moments as she unloaded her backpack before offering Ayumi a nod and small smile. "I'll go as well, then."

"I'll go too!" cried Mitsuhiko, who had apparently overheard the conversation from his desk. "And I think Genta was going to bring her the new Yamen Kaiba movie so she can watch it."

"Heck, yeah!" Genta came running over with the DVD in his hand. "Oh man, it's awesome! It's his best fight yet! I bet she'll really like it!" He then began dancing around the classroom, doing an imitation of some of the fight moves used in the film. "I thought for sure he was gonna lose at least twice, but he won every fight!"

"That's 'cause he'd _never_ lose!" cried Ayumi happily as she, too, did a few mock fighting moves. "He's awesome!"

Shinichi took advantage of the distraction to pull out a newspaper that he'd brought with him and rifle through it quickly before the sensei arrived. _Of course, it's been so long now that there's hardly anything written about what happened anymore. It's old news now...but you never know. _A breadcrumb trail _was _still a trail after all, even if it might be a little dried out and stale, and almost no group was better than newspaper pigeons at finding thier sustenance- information. There had even been a time or two before he'd shrunk that Shinichi could recall following that particular flock of birds to the truth of a case- well, following the information that they'd gathered, at any rate. He rapidly glanced through the crime section, finding nothing of interest or that seemed to be pertain to Takagi's murder. _Yeah, I should have known. It's been long enough that I really doubt anyone is actively pursuing the story anymore. _

Once they got off the bus after the day had ended, the kids walked the short, familiar route to the station, where they seemed to be in the middle of a shift change. They were warmly greeted by the group of officers working there as they entered, waves and smiles coming from even the most stalwart-looking faces. Shinichi's brows shot upwards as he studied the absolutely immaculately kept desk of Takagi Wataru in the corner of the room, complete with clean coffee mug and nameplate still present. _That's odd...maybe they're not giving it to someone else so they can keep it as a tribute to him? _He found himself wandering over to the desk with a puzzled frown, studying the space intently._ Man,_ it's absolutely spotless right down to the spoon by the coffee mug. __Shinichi rubbed his chin as he continued to study the oddly clean area_. I mean, I understand keeping it clean out of respect to him, almost like a shrine, but this seems a little above even that..._

"OH! There she is by the door, Conan!" Shinichi was pulled out of his thoughts thanks to a gentle, but insistent tugging from Ayumi on his sleeve. "Looks like Genta and Mitsuhiko are saying hi already! Let's go over there too!" She grinned widely before heading over to Satou, who was greeting the Tanteidan with a wide smile as she finished checking in and heading towards her desk.

"Hello, everyone! It's very good to see you!" And it really was; Satou still wasn't sure how she would have gotten through the first week, before Takagi's letter, without the Shonen Tanteidan's smiling faces and her coworker's stalwart support. "How have you all been?" She waved them over to her desk, moving some reports out of the way so that there was space on her desk.

"We got to make paper flowers, and I saved mine for you!" Ayumi eagerly held out a small, red paper flower attached to a green 'stem' made of soft green, flexible straw that they'd made in art class earlier that day.

"And I brought the new Yamen Kaiba movie for you! You'll really like it!" Genta offered Satou the DVD that he'd brought with him. "He fights _five_ monsters in it! And he fights two at the same time once, too!"

"Thank you both so much! The flower is very pretty!" Satou placed Ayumi's flower into a small vase that she had on her desk, and she then tucked the Yamen Kaiba movie into her purse. "I promise I'll bring the movie back as soon as I'm done watching it, OK?"

While the Tanteidan were holding Satou's interest, Shinichi noticed a small lime green Post-It note on the floor. He went to pick it up to hand it back to Satou, but after he read what it said he found his curiousity piqued even more. _Now isn't that interesting..._

**_He's still on our payroll? _**

Of course Shinichi had absolutely no idea who the 'he' referred to was, but the possibilities were pretty interesting. 'Our' payroll was likely referring to the police department, although he couldn't be sure of that. There _was _one way he could try and find out, though..._Cue Curious Kid Questioning Time, _he thought with a barely suppressed grin. One of the benefits to being small: being able to ask nosy questions without getting in trouble most of the time.

"Satou-keiji, I think this fell from your desk!" He held the note up to her with a deliberately innocent smile. "Is there a bad man taking money from the police or something? Maybe we can help you find them!"

"Oh, no. This is, um, something I'm looking into on my own time. Thank you, Conan-kun." She smiled and took the note before sticking it into her desk a little too quickly for Shinichi's liking.

_Satou-keiji, there really is something more going on here, isn't there? _Shinichi was glad that everyone else was too busy talking to notice him frantically writing down a few notes in a small notepad that he kept with him. _Time to do a little 'looking into' things on my own..._

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><p>"I had to lose Satou-san three times coming here, you know. Do you have <em>any idea<em> how hard that was to do?" Chiba halfheartedly grumbled at Takagi as he stepped into Takagi's newly rented apartment with a few bags of groceries, shrugging off his green windbreaker onto a small hook on the door after getting the groceries to the small kitchen. He then scanned the small, very bare but well-kept cream-toned apartment and shook his head. "You need to get at least a futon and table or something, Tak-err Takenaka-san. This place could really use some furniture in it." They'd decided quite a while ago that even someplace where it might be safe, they wouldn't use his actual name. You never knew who could overhear, after all.

The first statement caused Takagi to give the other man a small smirk. "I used to ride surveillance with her, remember? Believe me, I know how good Satou-san is at tailing someone." Takagi laughed lightly as he began unpacking his groceries. "Thanks for doing this, by the way. I just didn't want to risk bringing cold things home on the bus from school during rush hour." He carefully packed milk and eggs into the small fridge. "And yeah, I know I need to get some furniture; sleeping in a sleeping bag is beginning to get a little old. We just have to figure out how to cash my paychecks first..."

"Ah, so you DID enroll at that school today then. I think it's a really good idea, it'll help you not stick out so much." Chiba walked over with a nod. "Do you need money for uniforms or anything in the meantime?"

"Yeah, I do- I have a week to get a uniform ordered from the school. Which is why we have to figure out how to cash my paychecks." He put away the last of the groceries and turned to Chiba. "Maybe you can use that wig go and deposit them in my account? But then it would show activity on my account and that would be a bad idea..." Takagi made a face as he drummed his fingers on the tiny cabinet he'd put his things away in, trying to come up with a good solution for the problem that wouldn't possibly risk the people that tried to kill him discovering that he was still alive.

"These guys really have you running scared, don't they?" Chiba frowned as he studied his now-teenaged friend. "I know you mentioned a bunch of them in black jackets and fedoras, right?"

Takagi nodded, eyes shut in recollection, the little he could recall flashing in front of his mind's eye. "It seemed like a uniform for them or something. They were all wearing them, actually." He then shook his head before opening his eyes and looking up at the ceiling. "They really knew what they were doing, too...we couldn't even radio for help before they knocked us both out. One second we were getting ready to move in and make our arrests, then the next thing I knew I woke up in the hospital like this." He moved his hand up and down in front of him to indicate his shrunken body. In fact, his alias had been borne out of Chiba and Megure frantically trying to come up with a pseudonym to register Takagi under at the hospital, where they'd taken him thanks to a combination of smoke inhalation and his incredibly high fever. Luckily, because they were policeman all the two had had to say was that he was in the witness protection program and under police protection for the hospital to not bat an eye at registering him without proof of identity.

"Oh yeah! I picked up your mail." Chiba walked back over to his windbreaker and pulled out the things he'd collected from the PO box. "I think I'll probably have to stop delivering your letters to her though, with the way she's tailing me now. Sorry." He then shook his head. "I understand why you started writing her, but do you really think it was a good idea?"

"Well, I sure didn't want her to keep thinking I was dead." Takagi gave Chiba a serious look. "But I guess you're right. For now, until I can think of a way to explain...well, me shrinking, I guess, I don't think it would be a good idea for her to find me. And if she's tailing you like that, she'll probably find me eventually." He offered Chiba a smile. "Thanks for helping out, but I'll figure out something else. Maybe I'll deliver them myself if you guys can tell me when she's working so I know she won't run into me."

"I still think we should let Megure-keibu know that you told Satou-san," replied Chiba as he settled into a rather uncomfortable, temporary steel chair that was about the only stick of furniture in the apartment. "Just so he doesn't keep wondering why she's keeping your desk so tidy."

"You didn't tell him yet?" Takagi gave Chiba a puzzled look before nodding. "You definitely should. I don't want thinking that he has to keep it from her." He sighed. "Besides, I'm sure that she's digging around about what happened to me anyhow, knowing her."

"OK, I will." Chiba nodded before deciding to change the subject. "So how is the school you're going to? Must be really weird to be attending high school all over again, eh?"

"It is, and I also got stuck in a class with a real prankster," sighed Takagi as he pointed to his green suit jacket, which was pockmarked with what looked like some kind of yellow paint, a particularly large splash of color being located on the right shoulder. "I learned what one of my classmates meant by always having an umbrella handy around the guy the hard way. He'd rigged up a bunch of balloons filled with paint above everyone's desks while we were at lunch."

"Sounds like an...interesting guy," replied Chiba with a laugh as he studied the pain-laden jacket. "I hope it's water-soluble paint, at least?"

"Yeah, it's supposed to be but we'll see when I go to the laundry tomorrow." Takagi shrugged as he, too, looked at the jacket. "I give him credit, though- you should have seen how elaborate the rigging was. It was a real piece of work, all across the ceiling and rigged to the teacher's chair too with some invisible fishing line."

"And he managed all that during lunch?" Chiba raised an eyebrow. "He must have worked fast then, too."

"Yeah, and he told me a story about releasing a skunk during chemistry class too." Takagi laughed lightly as he shook his head. "Well, thanks for dropping things off, but I don't want to keep you for too long. I know you have early shift tomorrow."

After Chiba said his goodbyes, Takagi really looked around his new living quarters for the first time since moving into the place a month ago. He supposed Chiba _was_ right - it definitely needed some furniture and a few touches of life in it. Right now, it was suspiciously barren if some nosy neighbor were to peek in through the windows- and this apartment complex definitely had its fair share of those, as he'd learned after the first few days of pointed stairs and gossip when they thought he was out of earshot. _I also need to get a few things to make it look like a family is living here and not just me once I get some money, _Takagi added mentally as he began to go over possibilities in his mind. His parents were more than happy to help by giving him cash so that he could buy food and clothes, but he didn't want to burden them for much longer. _Maybe a large jacket left laying on a couch or something...just something to give the appearance that there's someone besides me here. _He continued to wander through the small apartment before deciding to take measurements for a futon first thing in the morning so that he could go shopping after school._  
><em>


	4. First Case

The holidays and buying a house totally pwned me...sorry, I'm back to writing again!

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><p>"We're not satisfied that he's dead, Absinthe."<p>

Gin looked out the deliberately darkened window of the dusty, abandoned Black Organization-owned warehouse after he finished speaking, not even giving his subordinate eye contact due to his total disgust with the situation at hand. He cleared his throat in an attempt to get rid of the damp, musty smell mixed with ocean that pervaded the place before he took a long drag on his cigarette, the fiery red tip about the only color or light in the immediate vicinity. Gin didn't say anything more, deciding to let Absinthe speak if the other man had anything to say. He refused to speak the name of either of the detectives that they'd killed- or at least that they'd _ thought_ they'd killed, which is why Gin had summoned Absinthe in the first place. At this point, Gin had a firmly seated belief that one of the two had escaped that night- the escapee being Takagi Wataru-keiji.

_So that's why he called this meeting. They just can't be satisfied even though it's been over a month now..._"He burned to death! They had to identify him by his dental records!" The slightly heavy-set, middle-aged Absinthe took a deep breath or two after the protestation, his cultured voice laden with fear at the moment. "We also opened his girlfriend's mail for almost three weeks after the fire, remember? And there was never anything from him. Surely he would have communicated with her sometime in those three weeks." His light brown eyes tried to peer into the darkness towards his superior as he frowned, worry almost radiating from him even as he tried to suppress it. Gin had always been a wolf to Absinthe, an excellent predator very capable of picking up on and singling out weakness in his prey or potential prey. Absinthe ran a hand nervously through his brown and white close-cropped hair as he continued to mull the situation over.

"We gave you an assignment to permanently remove some drug smugglers from these docks- _quietly, _because they were probably going to draw police attention to our warehouses here eventually if they kept up what they were doing. _Then_, you somehow managed to recruit a pair of undercover cops to help you with it." Gin shook his head as he continued to stare out the window towards the moonlit harbor, the quiet sea gently swaying and reflecting the moon above. The gentle dings of buoy bells accompanied the rhythmic movement of the water, though the sound was somewhat muffled thanks to the walls of the warehouse.

"I didn't know they were policemen!" Absinthe looked down at the oil-stained concrete floor, the wonder if it would be the spot where he died foremost in the back of his mind. He should have known that something was wrong when Gin summoned him to one of the Organization's disused warehouses on the harbor...the 'disused' buildings they owned usually served a singular, bloody purpose for the Organization. "They were very convincing- you know how convincing they had to have been to fool me." Absinthe knew it sounded like he was begging for his life, but...well, he was begging for his life.

Gin let out a derisive snort. "You're just lucky Vodka and I were able to save your ass before you got arrested." He flicked his cigarette and let the ash fall to the floor, the hot embers falling to the floor and winking out instantly on the cold, hard floor. "We had our suspicions, so we tailed them to the meeting and saw them hooking up the portable police radio in their car, as you well know." He narrowed his eyes at Absinthe before he looked around the room, as if his eyes could detect bugs or unwanted visitors in the constantly moving shadows. "Although we had to kill, or try and kill, _two _cops thanks to your stupidity. The police are also being relentless even if officially they're classifying it as a freak fire. _He's _definitely not happy at all." Gin glanced over at Absinthe. "The kind of publicity that killing a cop brings is something we really don't appreciate."

"What do you mean _tried_ to kill two of them? They were both dead when we left, and you gave them that poison stuff too to make sure they were dead!" Absinthe could feel the sweat trickling down his brow as he asked the question. "That stuff is undetectable and a hundred percent effective, right?"

"We had to leave after we fed them the poison and set the place on fire with them in it, remember?" Gin shook his head before studying his cigarette for a moment. "Don't you find it strange that they only had dental remains to work with for one body when they were able to have a full open-casket funeral for the other?" Absinthe had long noticed Gin's habit of trying to dehumanize his victims as much as possible, never referring to the names of any of them.

"Well, now that you point it out...but what do you want me to do about it?" Absinthe was still peering in the dark in Gin's general direction, desperately trying to read the other man's face in the small amount of dull moonlight that was creeping through the window and throwing ever-changing shadows on the walls. _Give me a chance to do something...that means I'll still be alive after this. _Well, it would mean a much better chance of him being alive, at any rate. Absinthe held no delusions about how disposable all but a very few select members of the Black Organization were.

Gin leveled a glare at him after taking another deep puff of his cigarette, polishing it off before letting go of it and stomping on the butt after it hit the ground. "Did you really just ask that question?" His displeasure with his subordinate's lack of insight was made plainly obvious in his tone as he reached down to pick up the butt and place it in a plastic bag he always carried on him that had a few other similarly crushed butts.

"You want me to make sure he's dead then- the one that they said burned to death." Absinthe nodded in understanding, though he also found his curiosity piqued. "I thought that that had been done already though, Gin. That's why I didn't understand what you were asking at first." The Organization did one thing above all else- try and cover up its tracks and existence from the world.

"Of course it's been checked- by more than one person, as usual. But I want you to take another look anyway." Gin turned his attention to the window again. "I've got my reasons. Start looking into it immediately, and report your findings directly to me. We want absolute proof, one way or the other, and don't bother contacting me until you've got it."

"Aniki, do you want me to help him?" Absinthe's neck hair pricked and a jolt of fear ran through him as he recognized Vodka's deep voice coming from an unlit corner of the room where the moonlight wasn't dancing. _He was there the entire time? _Dealing with Gin by himself was bad enough. Gin with Vodka usually meant one thing and one thing only: death to whoever they were speaking to.

"No." Gin's tone was flat as he directed his attention to the shadows behind him that Vodka had spoken from, addressing the other man. "If Absinthe screws this up, I don't want him to have anyone else to place blame on." Gin looked over at Absinthe. "You'll be working alone with no support. Fail this job and you're dead."

Absinthe knew that this had been done purely as a power play and to knock him off balance a little. He could hear Gin's _I could have had Vodka kill you at any time during this meeting_ in his head very clearly even though it went unspoken. Absinthe was a little resentful, but he also knew that the Organization very, very rarely gave an operative that shed any light into the darkness of the Organization -accidentally or purposefully- another chance. Usually, such failures turned into an unidentifiable body whose method of death could never be solved. The wave of relief that washed over him when he realized he'd be leaving the warehouse alive was massive, though he was also still very suspicious. "I assume you've found or heard something that prompted you to want me to look into this again?"

"Of course I did." Gin turned to Absinthe, his tone carefully neutral. "And that's the first part of your job, Absinthe. Finding what I found." He took a few steps towards Absinthe as he lit another cigarette, knowing that Absinthe was a nonsmoker and didn't like the smell. "Consider it a test from_ Him_, and you'd better pass." Gin then waved his arm in a 'come on' motion as Vodka stepped forward and fell in beside the shorter man. "Let's get out of here, Vodka."

After both men exited the warehouse, Absinthe slumped to the ground, the sheer fear and adrenaline that had been coursing through his body finally leaving him- and leaving him exhausted. He slowly stood up on somewhat shaky legs, looking around before quickly departing the warehouse and getting into his car. He felt his heart in his throat as he inserted his key and turned on the ignition, another wave of relief washing over him as the car started normally and didn't explode with him in it.

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><p><em>Aniki, here's the stuff. It's a brand new batch too.<em>

Takagi woke in a cold sweat, the voice of one of his assailants still ringing in his head he stirred from sleep and sat up in his futon. That voice, and the feeling of a pill being crammed down his throat along with water to force him to swallow, were his only two clear memories of the night he'd been...well, he supposed shrunk was the best way to put it. Or maybe de-aged? What else could you possibly term becoming what seemed about 10 years younger overnight? He sighed and got out of bed after glancing at the cheap alarm clock he'd purchased, realizing that he'd woken up only a minute or two before it was due to go off. He popped the futon back into a couch with a yawn after he clicked the clock off. _Time to get ready for school..._

Takagi also still remembered vividly the first time he'd snuck into a restroom to look at himself in the mirror. For some reason, the dream almost always triggered him thinking about the first time he'd laid eyes on himself somehow being a teenager all over again. He'd been convinced at first that the reason they didn't want him looking into one was that he'd been horribly scarred or burned thanks to the fire. When he'd asked about it and been told that wasn't the case at all and he realized the next day that the doctors weren't treating any burns on him, it had really gotten him wondering.

_Excuse me, are there any mirrors around here?_

After Takagi had realized that the teenaged boy he'd been addressing in the hallway was mimicking his movements perfectly, he'd approached him only to realize that once again, the boy was perfectly aping him. And _then _he realized that he seem to be almost right at eye level with the boy...a boy that reminded him very strongly of himself in his late teen years. A realization mixed with puzzlement and complete shock had begun to filter into his mind as he slowly approached the boy...who he was pretty sure now _was _him. In fact, he had then realized that the entire left side of the hallway was a giant mirror. Takagi then finished approaching his reflection slowly, the puzzlement and shock evident on his face.

_Well, I guess you know now._ Takagi could still recall Megure-keibu's quiet voice as he'd approached Takagi. _Yeah, that's you._

Takagi sighed as he forced himself to refocus on the present. He quickly showered and got dressed in the only other cheap suit he'd managed to find in his size with the cash he'd had available after he checked out of the hospital. He also decided to bring everything on the list that his classmate Hakuba Saguru had told him about the other day. He couldn't risk having his only other suit get dirty, after all. _What did he say again? An umbrella...two lunches...and an extra pair of shoes. _He made a face as he realized he didn't have an extra pair of shoes. _I also need to talk to my parents about helping me out with a school uniform or two...and figuring out how to get my paychecks cashed. _He was sure at this point that Megure-keibu's superiors were wondering why the man was dragging his feet about removing the deceased Takagi Wataru-keiji from thier registers.

He walked into the sparse kitchen and pulled out the lone frying pan he had- borrowed from Chiba in haste after he found that the apartment had _not _come 'turn-key including pots and pans' as advertised. He quickly made himself a hot breakfast and put the pan in the sink before heading out the door.

When Takagi arrived at school, he gave his desk and chair a very close inspection. After a live fish waiting for him in his desk drawer when he had come back from lunch yesterday, Takagi was taking no more chances. He was in the process of making sure the seat would actually hold weight when he heard an amused, low-key laugh behind him.

"I see Kuroba already has you inspecting things before you use them now. Not surprising, and probably very wise knowing Kuroba's past history in this classroom." The tall blonde then sat down at his desk after giving it an inspection of his own and pulling out a thermos. "Sorry to say that as the new person in class, Kuroba's attention will probably be particularly focused on you when it's not on me." He then pulled out a teacup from his coat pocket and poured some tea from the thermos into it.

It was then that Takagi noticed a smell...a very rotten, stinking smell that caused his nose to wrinkle. "Um, do you-?"

"Smell that? Yes, and it's coming from my desk drawer." Saguru gave his desk a suspicious glare as he stood up and went to open the window closest to his desk. "I don't think I want to open the lid." He shook his head as he finished opening the window. "That explains why I saw Kuroba walk into the classroom several minutes before the bell and then duck out again. I had wondered." After he finished the sentence, the meitantei held his nose and gave his desk another baleful look.

The rest of the students filed in, comments on the rancid odor almost immediately becoming the main topic of conversation. As soon as the sensei came in and got a noseful, she immediately ordered everyone out of the room. It was then noticed that a certain magician trickster was missing from the morning roll call.

"Probably fled to spare his nose," sighed Saguru under his breath before he turned to Takagi. "He's not the best ambassador of this school, I'm afraid, Takenaka-san."

It was then that the sound of tires squealing out front could be heard, followed by a very loud sound of metal crunching and glass tinkling.


End file.
